Grass cutting operations are regularly performed on expanses of manicured grass such as, for example, a lawn of a residence, a commercial facility, or the like. Such grass cutting operations may include not only trimming or cutting the grass to a uniform height but also include collecting the cut grass clippings as well as collecting twigs, leaves, and other organic or non-organic items that may be present on the lawn during the grass cutting operation. For a number of reasons, including the desire to avoid adding to the size of landfills and the desire to more fully reap the ecological benefits of further utilizing the nutrient value of cut grass clippings, grass cutting operations increasingly omit the step of collecting the cut grass clippings and instead seek to leave the cut grass clippings “in place”—that is, distributed on and among the freshly cut “below cut level” grass of the lawn.
Manufacturers of grass cutting equipment have responded to this evolving grass cutting approach by offering motorized lawn mowers as well as specialized lawn mower blades that, it is claimed, operate to handle the cut grass clippings in a way that does not interfere with the grass cutting operation and/or promotes effective distribution of the cut grass clippings on the lawn. For example, lawn mowers are commercially available that are equipped with mulching blades operable to mulch the grass into relatively fine clippings such that these clippings will allegedly migrate downwardly into the “below cut level” grass and thus not mar the appearance of the lawn with unsightly clumps or clusters of cut grass clippings. In addition, it is also possible to outfit a lawn mower with shredding blades with custom shaped tines or cutting edges that allegedly shred leaves, twigs, and other organic matter into reduced size pieces that will migrate downwardly into the “below cut level” grass.
However, some mulching blades fail to properly shred leaves or organic matter as mulching blades are designed specifically to mulch grass and have only secondary shredding capability. In addition, some shredding blades fail to provide an adequate mulching of the grass itself although adequate to shred leaves or other non-grass organic matter. Mulching blades often require the deck of the lawn mower (the enclosed volume in which a cutting blade rotates) to be closed to thereby retain large grass particles within the deck until cut into finer pieces. A mulching blade of this type is intended to lift, cut, mulch, and distribute the finely cut grass clippings. However, a number of factors such as the forward (translational) movement of the lawn mower, the lack of effective upward suction, the increasing dullness of the mulching blade, and interaction of the upstanding grass blades with the rotating blade can all detract from the capability of a mulching blade to effectively cut grass in a manner that results in a uniformly cut lawn and adequately mulched cut grass clippings.